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Russia-Trade Bill Shouldn’t Include Human Rights, Kirk Says

June 20 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. should grant Russia
permanent normal trade status without tying it to a measure that
would punish human-rights violators, according to U.S. Trade
Representative Ron Kirk.

President Barack Obama’s administration wants a bill that
deals with U.S.-Russia trade relations “while we would continue
to work with the Congress to address the human rights concerns”
with Russia, Kirk said at a House Ways & Means Committee hearing
today in Washington.

Congress is considering measures that would do both as
Russia prepares to join the Geneva-based World Trade
Organization as soon as this year. The Republican chairman of
the Ways & Means Committee, Representative Dave Camp of
Michigan, said he also supports a “clean and targeted” bill to
prevent delay.

Republicans and the administration are at odds with the
Senate, where Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus,a Montana
Democrat, has said he is willing to consider the trade and
human-rights measures together. The Senate panel is scheduled to
hold a hearing on the issue tomorrow.

Companies including Boeing Co. of Chicago and Caterpillar
Inc. of Peoria, Illinois, are pushing Congress to repeal the
1974 Jackson-Vanik amendment, which limited trade with the
Soviet Union, so that the Obama administration can grant its
successor, Russia, permanent trade relations.

‘Being Outliers’

“American companies run the risk of being outliers,” Doug
Oberhelman, Caterpillar’s chairman and chief executive officer,
said at the hearing. The company, which wants Russia to be its
primary export market, may be subject to higher tariffs compared
with international competitors unless Congress acts, he said.

Congress should act quickly to give the president the
authority to change Russia’s status, Kirk said. “Having clear
rules of the road will provide the predictability, transparency
and market access that our businesses and exporters seek,” he
said.

Lawmakers including Representative Sander Levin of
Michigan, the top Democrat on committee, support the measure to
impose financial and travel restrictions on human-rights
violators in Russia. He said he expects the bill to be combined
with legislation establishing permanent trade ties.

Human Rights

Jackson-Vanik, which barred favorable trade with the Soviet
Union to punish it for blocking emigration by Jewish citizens,
“was a human rights provision in a trade bill,” Levin said.
“That precedent goes back decades.”

While the U.S. has, since 1992, granted annual preferential
treatment to imports from Russia, lawmakers and the
administration are seeking to make the trade ties permanent,
Deputy Secretary of State William Burns said in remarks prepared
for the hearing.

Without improved relations, the U.S. won’t be able to take
advantage of the WTO’s dispute-resolution process when dealing
with Russia, he said. Russia also wouldn’t have to apply its
agreement to international health and safety standards to U.S.
agricultural exports, according to Burns.

In addition to human-rights concerns, the U.S. and Russia
differ over bringing an end to conflicts in Syria, Burns said.
Withholding the trade designation won’t give the U.S. leverage
on the issue, he said.

U.S. companies are seeking to expand their market share in
Russia, and business groups including the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce say they will be at a disadvantage if the U.S. doesn’t
change Russia’s status by the time it joins the WTO. U.S. goods
exports to Russia totaled $8.3 billion in 2011, according to the
Census Bureau. Imports were about $34.6 billion.

Democrats Baucus and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts,
along with Republicans John Thune of South Dakota and John
McCain of Arizona, have sponsored a bill that would let the
administration grant Russia permanent trade ties.